James and Nuala, Part I
by jayma
Summary: Tired and exhausted, James and Nuala go to sleep. /Ballad, A Gathering of Faerie by Maggie Stiefvater/


**Title**: James and Nuala, Part I

**Fandom**: Ballad, A Gathering of Faerie by Maggie Stiefvater

**Rating**: T (for language)

**Word** **Count**: 2,203

**Characters/Pairings**: James/Nuala, Paul

**Disclaimer**: All recognizable characters and places are the property of Maggie Stiefvater. The lyrics "Wrapped in Your Arms" toward the end belong to Fireflight. This piece of fan fiction was created for entertainment not monetary purposes and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended.

**Spoilers/Time** **Line**: Takes place right after Halloween.

**Summary**: Tired and exhausted, James and Nuala go to sleep.

**Author's** **Notes**: I can't express how much I love this book and the characters. I immediately fell in love with James/Nuala (my current OTP). I just had this idea running through my head and I had to write it down. Much fluff, so you have been warned! Lol!

* * *

"Dude, I can't believe a hot thing like that is staying here…in our room." Paul eyed Nuala as she dried her hair with a towel.

I smacked him across the shoulder and grabbed him by the back of the neck. "Dude, that _hot thing_, is my girlfriend-just-turned-human. If you don't want to wake up tomorrow singing soprano, you'd—"

"Back off. I know the man code, James. Don't hit on your roommate's girlfriend." He eyed her again and I tightened my grip.

"Okay, okay, okay," he pleaded and I chuckled a bit at how he gave in easily.

"You know you can't keep her here forever. You'll be ratted out sooner or later and then you'd be the one singing soprano." He was right, unfortunately. I knew I could trust Paul, Wesley, and Eric, but I had no idea who else to add to my band of brothers. I could have asked Megan or even Dee, but that would have been like throwing Nuala to the lion's den…or maybe the other way around.

"I'll put off singing soprano as long as I can. Until then, she's staying with me," I said and Paul lifted his finger to point at the space between me and him.

"With us," he corrected. I raised my eyebrow and mentally sent him a visual image of another smack across the shoulder.

"With you," he raised his hands in defense. I smiled. Paul was a good guy. I just loved playing around with him.

Paul's eyes went back to Nuala and I couldn't help but follow. She stood by the window with my green Ninja Turtles t-shirt and grey sweatpants. I felt the tips of my ears go red and the air go thick around me. God. She was still gorgeous even when she was fully covered up.

Paul pulled on the tip of my reddened ear to bring me back out of space. "Do you want me to chill with Eric tonight?"

I tried not to show my out-of-this-world enthusiasm at that prospect. "You would be the best roommate-slash-best friend-slash-insert other compliment here, if you do." He really was a great guy.

"Only if you let me listen to Kelly Clarkson more often." Bastard.

"Fine, I can't deprive my little girl of her favorite music." I had to retaliate somehow with a few taps on his head.

"You know you love 'Behind These Hazel Eyes.'" It's true, I did, melodramatic as the song was. I'd never admit to it. Paul went to his dresser and pulled out a sock, which he then tossed at me.

"Put it on the handle if things get serious," he said casually before he moved swiftly to the door and I threw the sock back at him with a laugh. I was rubbing off on him too much.

I turned to Nuala, who had just opened the window slightly to let in the night air. She looked back at me through the window's reflection.

"Hi." I walked toward her and stopped by my bed, which was messy as hell, but I figured she was used to my classic messiness.

"You suck at small talk," she smiled and turned to me. I loved her way with words. It's almost like falling in love with a female version of me. Scratch that. A female version of me would be insanely hideous. Femme-me wouldn't hold a candle to my Nuala…_my_ Nuala. I like the sound of that.

"I can't read your mind anymore, punk. You were completely gone for like 2 minutes there. Everything okay up there in that rock you call a head," she said as she moved in front of me.

I pulled her by the shirt and she happily obliged with a hint of a grin at the corners of her mouth. Within moments, I had my arms around her waist and her hands on the collar of my shirt.

"I have bad breath," she blurted out. I smiled and lightly scratched the small of her back.

"The woes of being a human. I'll buy you a toothbrush tomorrow." Made me wonder what other necessities she'd need, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

"Other than your breath, how is everything else feeling?" I asked curiously. I'm not exactly sure how much different faerie physiology is from human…not that anyone would.

"I can't go invisible whenever I want to, which sucks, but I kind of expected that," she said as tugged on my collar. "My stomach is constantly grunting, kind of like you when you're asleep."

"I do not grunt." I feigned hurt, but my ridiculous goofball smile gave me away.

"Of course you do, like a caveman. I know you better than you think," she poked my chest with her thumbs, her grip still around my collar.

I wanted to play her game. "Prove it." I teased her.

She raised an eyebrow with intrigue and let her hands crawl up around my neck, where she then rested them on my shoulders. "You're a know-it-all smart ass who's in love with music, who wears crazy t-shirts," she looked down to her own Ninja Turtles shirt.

"You love your friends even though they don't get you half the time…" she went on to praise me for quite a while, "And, you managed to not go insane even when this psychotic girl threatened your very existence."

I had to admit, she had me down to a tee. "Are you sure about that last part? Because I do feel like I've flown one too many times over the cuckoo's nest."

She gave it another thought. "Maybe you're right. Only someone insane would want to be with someone like me." She made it sound like it was a bad thing. Like she had dragged me down involuntarily into the chaos that was her life.

"I wouldn't want to be with anyone else but you, sane or not." She looked hard at me as if she was trying to read my mind. I stared back, neither one of us blinking. I finally started to move closer, my nose smelling every inch of her neck as I made my way up. She smelled different, but the hint of what made Nuala was still there. I was a short distance away from kissing her when she turned away abruptly.

"I don't taste the same, James. I'm—different." My chest grew heavy at her words. How could she think that? So she didn't have life-sucking abilities or the natural embodiments of a faerie anymore. She was still _my_ Nuala and the Nuala she wanted to stay as.

There was no point in denying my feelings for her. So, because of the hopeless romantic disease I inherited from my darling mother, I came right out with it. "I didn't fall in love with you because you tasted good, or because you smelled good, or because you were unbelievably beautiful—all of which, you still are, by the way—I fell in love with you because I met a girl who wasn't afraid to kick my ass, or to contradict everything I say. The only other girl who did that was—"

Way to blab on James the jack-hole. She didn't need to read your mind to know where that was going.

"Dee," Nuala finished off for me. She started to pull her arms away from my shoulder when I caught one and held it against my chest.

"Dee, doesn't do this to me anymore," I said and hoped she got the message. My heart was pounding a mile a minute. Not because of my previous moment of stupidity, but because what I felt for her was real. The type of real you get when the water comes out cold in the shower, or when you accidentally cut yourself with a knife…the real that hurts because it's true.

I cupped the side of her neck and gently pulled her forehead to mine. "I hated myself for leaving you behind. I thought of you the whole time."

Nuala bit her bottom lip and the hint of a blush appeared on her cheeks. "Now I feel guilty," she said.

I pulled back slightly and scrunched my eyebrows in confusion, "Why?"

"While I was burning for what seemed like forever, I kind of thought about my directing career," she admitted.

God, I loved her. I laughed and finally went in to kiss her. It was one of those kisses that held promises. She obviously had nowhere else to go. She didn't exactly have too many friends when she was a faerie. I'm the only thing she has. And, I don't think it's sad to say that I needed her just as much as she needed me—I would have punched anyone who thought otherwise.

She shivered slightly and I pulled back, fresh goosebumps along her forearms. "It's cold." I took a look at her wet hair and then at the open window.

"The last thing I need for you is to catch a cold," I said and ruffled her hair a bit. She stuck her tongue out at me and I went to close the window. I heard a muffled thud behind me and saw that she threw herself on my bed with her legs still over the edge.

"Do you humans always feel this tired? I mean, I've felt tired before, but sheesh," she complained from the bed. I walked over and slammed myself against the bed next to her.

"Okay, one, you've got to stop saying 'you humans.' It sounds like you're one of us in disguise and you have a diabolical master plan to take over the world. Second, we pretty much went through hell and back a few hours ago. I'd be surprised if you weren't exhausted."

She turned on her side and snaked her arm around my waist. "It's just weird. I keep thinking this is a dream that's meant to tease me. I'll wake up and the jerk next to me won't be there."

"You still think highly of me, I see." I joked around with her. She laughed lightly as rested her head on my chest. "This jerk won't be going anywhere."

"Good," she turned her head to look at me, "Because this jerkette will kick your ass big time if you do."

I laughed, because I knew that she could and would. "Jerkette? I like that. Suits you entirely."

"Shut up." She nudged my side and I let out another laugh. I saw her yawn and figured it was time to hit the sack.

"Sleep?" I suggested with a stroke to her back. She nodded. I helped her get up and I turned to smooth out the bed for her. After several moments of untangling sheets, I finally took one for myself and gestured to her to jump in.

She climbed onto the bed and buried herself underneath the sheets. I took my sheet and spread it out on the floor.

"What are you doing?" She sat up and looked at the sheet on the floor.

"I want you to sleep on the bed." It was the truth. I know I'm not the most gentlemanly guy in the world, but I do have some basic manners—regardless of the 'dirty things' that come out of my mouth, as my mom said one time.

"Get in the bed. Now." She still had that fiery glint in her eyes that said 'Bitch, stop fooling around.' I nodded with a smile and picked up my sheet from the floor and placed at the foot of the bed. I climbed to the other side of the bed, where she held the sheets away and then covered me with them. After I turned off the light, she didn't hesitate to grab my arm and wrap it around her waist. I didn't argue. I wanted my arm to be around her.

So there we were, a few moments later, wrapped in each other's arms. If the me from a few months ago saw this picture, he would have laughed in my face. It didn't matter because I would have laughed back and said something along the line of "You stupid ass fool!"

"James?"

I nudged her head with my chin. "Yeah, babe?"

"There was something I wanted to say before I went into the bonfire," she buried her forehead into my neck.

"Yeah?"

She hesitated. "You should lay off the chips. Someone's been gaining a bit of weight on the side." She pinched my side. I couldn't help but laugh again.

"Seriously?" I poked her sides and she jerked with some laughter of her own.

"Actually, what I wanted to say was…I love you." I know she couldn't see me, but I wore the cheesiest smile. Ever. I knew she felt that way about me already, but just to hear a reconfirmation made me feel like a high school girl. See, now I think Paul was rubbing off on me too damn much.

I kissed the top of her head. "I love you, too."

_And I'm here to stay  
Nothing can separate us  
And I know, I'm ok  
You cradle me gently  
Wrapped in your arms  
__I'm home_


End file.
